Second Quarter Figures Revised Upward

GDP grew at a 3.3% rate in the second quarter, revised upward from the 2.8% initially reported, Reuters reports:

“It looks like the economy wasn’t all that soft in the second quarter,” said economist Gary Thayer of A.G. Edwards and Sons Inc. in St. Louis, Missouri. “Generally, it shows the economy healthy and seeing growth in most categories.”

UPDATE: Reader Steve Reavis pointed us to this Associated Press story on the same second quarter data, titled “Economy Grows at Weakest Rate in Over Year.”
Still, if you read to the end of the AP story, you find this:

The 3.3 percent overall growth rate in the second quarter followed four quarters of extraordinary growth as the economy expanded at rates of 4.1 percent in the spring of 2003 and then 7.4 percent in the summer, the largest surge in 20 years. The rate was 4.2 percent in the fourth quarter last year and 4.5 percent in the first three months of this year.

Which makes this statement by John Kerry’s spokeswoman seem rather silly:“Though George Bush keeps telling American families that things are getting better, the reality is a much different story,” Kerry spokeswoman Allison Dobson said.